Extending Furnace Run Length By Optimizing Decoking

In the Ethylene manufacturing process, coke deposited in the radiant coils and Transfer Line Exchangers (TLEs) during normal operation is removed periodically by decoking the furnaces using a mixture of steam and air. There is a significant variation in operating parameters adopted by different plants for decoking. These are often either too conservative or aggressive, leading to production loss from increased off-stream time, TLE limitation and deterioration in coil life. This paper describes how the decoking procedure was modified based on furnace and TLE operating conditions and the decoking steps changed to obtain the best possible Ethylene yield, without adversely impacting coil life and TLE performance.  Furnace run length was more than doubled and production significantly increased.